John Delcos enters his third season covering the Mets for The Journal News after eight seasons on the Yankees beat. Prior to coming to New York, John covered the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians.

My barometer for the Mets is how quickly they get to 10 games over .500. To me that is the first milestone of a sucessful season. Then 15 over, 20 over, etc. I expect the offense to get off a little slowly, but the pitching should carry them through the first part of the season. The offense will really kick in when Alou gets back. That’s when the divisional rout will begin.